my family trip is from 11/24-11/30 (we go once every 2-3 years so this is obviously not enough time:)
we are already staying at Wyndham Bonnett Creek throughout the duration of our trip
we already have purchased park hopper tickets for everyone
My question is this: We are trying to get as much park time as humanly possibly for this trip since we might not be able to go for another 3-4 years. Our last full night is Tuesday and we’re leaving around noon on Wed.
Tuesday has Epcot EMH from 9:30 PM - 11:30 PM…I’m wondering if it’s possible for us to book a one night stay at one of the All-Stars for Tuesday (one night) to get the benefits of the EMH that day. There are five of us going so in my head I am thinking we can split the cost of staying at a hotel for one night and gain an extra 2 hours in Epcot on our last day. While I definitely know I am not the first person to think/try this - I do want to know if anyone has done this in the past?
Will we still get the EMH access even if we don’t plan on checking in to our room? Does this screw up anything with our previously purchased tickets? What do I have to do to my tickets in order to link this up correctly?
I figure splitting one hotel room across 5 people is much cheaper than us all getting MVMCP tickets for our last night (we’ve gone before and we liked it…just didn’t like it THAT much…we’re Epcot people…we’d happily spend 30ish dollars a person for two hours of no crowd Epoct) - I got very excited about the prospect of this…anyone with advice/tips/etc please let me know!
With on line check-in, you likely could “check in” remotely while never visiting. So check-in shouldn’t be an issue.
The biggest issue I see is you have 5 people so you’d need to book a room that accepts 5 or else someone wouldn’t get EMH credit - unless they don’t check that closely when handling out the EMH bands. The other thing I’m not sure of, is what are they using for EMH proof now? I’d presume they’d scan a magic band - do you still have time to get one for your stay? That might be a potential issue as well and force you to stop by All-Stars to pick them up which may not make it worth your while…
Yes you would get EMH access. As long as it’s between your check-in and out dates you will qualify. If you don’t plan to go to the hotel and check-in make sure you do online check-in and give your credit card information.
You won’t have to do anything else. It’ll be linked to your magic band which you’ll get with the room stay so there is another reason to get it. They’ll work as your tickets and fastpass for your whole trip.
I believe you can’t book 5 at a value resort though.
As long as they are in the U.S. you can book up to about 2 and half weeks out and still get the magic bands in time. I’ve seen some people get them overnighted. We added a room at ASM before our 10 days at POFQ just a couple of weeks ago and we check in Sunday. We customized as soon as we linked and they mailed them out within 48 hours.
I have only stayed on site and never done EMHs at Epcot, but with so few rides, how do they manage EMHs in the World Showcase? Is it like the parties where they start showing people the exit and won’t let you go any further? Would they still be able to eat, drink and shop without being on site? Maybe you could try and get the rides out of the way before 9:30 and be REALLY slow in leaving. Just a thought!
I’m not sure if all 5 people would need to be on the room reservation. When checking if you are a Disney resort guest, do CMs scan everyone’s band or just one person in each party? My experience with EMHs has been that they only scan one band, but maybe others will report something different.
We’ve had each band scanned. Otherwise, you could just be hanging out with friends not staying at a resort and say “we’re all together”. I’ve read a few threads recently that sort of suggest that CMs might be a bit lax in their duties, but I’ve never witnessed that. They’re always doing their jobs as they are instructed to do. Since EMH is not a hard ticketed event (where non-ticket buyers are ushered out of the park), anyone can still be in the park as long as they were there prior to the start. The only way to know if your a resort guest is to scan each band.